The place to goto for all of the latest Godzilla movie related news, along with everything else within the world of Godzilla. I also talk about Cryptids and Monsters, Aliens and UFOs, Ghosts and Spirits, and finally Urban Legends. Don't forget to bookmark this page as this website is updated daily!

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Friday, September 9, 2011

I found this great article showcasing a Godzilla fan as he retraces the locations used throughout the 1998 Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich "Godzilla" film.

They literally went through the movie, picked out various locations that "Godzilla" stepped through, and then painstakingly took pictures at the exact same angles seen in the movie.

In this manner when you compare pics from the movie to what he took (as seen in this picture here) it amazingly captures that location in real life. Plus he points out what's next to these locations in detail, so as to further bring the scene to life.

I love stuff like this because it a) shows true fandom on the part of the website owner, and b) it's a nice voyeuristic way of reliving those movie scenes in a cool manner.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Well it finally happened, it looks like Godzilla has truly met his match with the legendary Chuck Norris.

You know who I'm talking about, the same Chuck Norris that people say doesn't do push-ups but rather pushes down on the Earth; the same Chuck Norris that puts out fires with gas; the same Chuck Norris who's picture is worth 2000 words but people can never get 1000 words past him.

That same Chuck Norris!

I always love idiotic fan art like this because it's fun to dabble in some humour every now and then. I'm sure Chuck Norris gets a kick out of all of these macho jokes too.

Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths #5 (of 5)
Release: October, 2011
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli
Carnage! Destruction! Revenge! Tokyo burns at the hands of the unstoppable villain, Takahashi. But don't count out Detective Sato, who has a scheme so crazy it just might work... if he can get past a gaggle of giant monsters, that is! Things don't wrap up any bigger than in this unforgettable conclusion!

I've been a fan of this series since the first issue began, as it surprised me how well the concept of gangsters and monster seemed to work.

It's a crazy idea that now seems legit, like mixing peanut butter and jelly onto two pieces of bread.

That last sentence seems to promise an epic conclusion, and I'm hoping that the series truly pays off in the end. After this comes the equally tantalizing idea of Godzilla one-shots through "Godzilla Legends".

It looks like IDW's "Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters" series is performing a little change of sorts.

Here's the official synopsis for both issues:

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #8
Release: October, 2011
Writer: Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh
Artist: Victor Dos Santos
Things just went from "bad as they can be" to "Armageddon" as mankind becomes nothing more than insects under the trampling feet of giant monsters hell bent on ripping each other's heads off. And is this three-headed dragon the savior of the human race or simply another gargantuan beast handing out destruction? Either way, Godzilla is up for a fight.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #9
Release: November, 2011
Writer: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Victor Dos Santos
As the dust settles on last issue's epic monster battle, humanity finds a silver lining among all the destruction, and things quiet down. But just because some of the monsters have retreated doesn't mean the rampage has ended… after all, there may be more gargantuan threats right around the corner. Whatever may be next, mankind may finally be ready to put up a fight!

While it looks like issue #8 finally concludes the series' current storyline, what's more interesting is the change of writers for issue #9.

You'll see that writer Eric Powell has now been replaced by Jason Ciaramella.

Interesting no, as I had read previously that Powell's work was going to involve at least two storycycles, maybe even 20 issues total.

Could IDW have changed things after Powell's work generated such a lukewarm response from critics/fans alike?

I would like to think yes, as IDW seems to be very protective of their licensed properties. They want to keep their fans happy, and they know what to do when things need changing.

I know this at least; it won't be because of Powell seeking to rest or take a break from writing.

While I don't write comics, I would imagine each issue taking at most a few hours to at maximum a day of work to get it done.

I mean it's a freaking comic book! Most pages consist of a few captions of dialogue at most, with the rest vague explanations to the artists about what's going on. So any comic book writer who claims that their writing is forcing them to take a sabbatical is putting on a show.

p.s. Take a look at the fantastic cover for issue #9. Simply breathtaking.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

There was a recent interview on Indiewire.com where Gareth Edwards briefly talked about his films.

While the topic of "Godzilla" was brought up, unfortunately he did not disclose anything on the matter.

Rather he took this as a chance to clear up all of the recent rumors related to his mysterious sci-fi film after Godzilla.

As I had stated in one of my YouTube videos (which you can find on the right hand side under "My Godzilla YouTube Videos"), any news of him concurrently working on a film while working on Godzilla is a very bad judgement call in my opinion.

As a Director he has to stay focused on one project at a time, as juggling multiple films simultaneously will inadvertently cause a loss of quality amongst his projects. It's only a natural side-effect from overburdening oneself with too much work. Everything eventually suffers.

Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams do it fine (usually juggling 5 to 10 projects each) because they act more as "Producers", so their focus wouldn't have be as fixed as a Director's.

In any case Gareth clears up some info on this mysterious film, only hinting that there's a lot of misinformation around, never exactly providing his own additional information.

If there's one thing Gareth is good at (considering his previous Godzilla interviews) it's providing the most constant non-answers around.

I found this interesting link the other day and thought I would post it here for everyone to see.

It's obvious that the story's content is completely fake, as this website unanimously posts humorous/satiric articles centered on outlandish subjects, such as Wal-Mart employees utilizing a device to reduce their own "gasses" (i.e. farts).

But nevertheless one has to wonder if this is how the newest Godzilla movie's viral marketing will be.

There's no doubt that the Godzilla movie from Legendary pictures and company will utilize such items, as anyone who's seen the "Cloverfield" marketing and movie (which is in essence a Godzilla film) knows how wonderfully it all paid off.

Movie companies like such success, and it would be amazing to see this Godzilla film mimic such an approach. (Can you imagine scores of websites reporting satellite images, interviews, recorded footage, all on traces of a Godzilla-like monster coming to the US).

In any case here's an excerpt to read, and as always I've included the link to the full website underneath it.

...Fukushima, Japan, April 22, 2011 – The large, Godzilla-like aquatic creature that has appeared off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, was described by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata as a ”purely natural phenomenon” entirely unconnected to the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. His assessment was subsequently confirmed by Japanese governmental authorities.

”We believe this creature, who some call Godzilla, is random result of nature evolution. There is no evidence to connect the Godzilla lizard to any potential radioactive emissions purportedly leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors into Pacific Ocean,” Mr. Katsumata said.

The creature, while large, has been determined by TEPCO scientists to ”pose no immediate danger to human health”...

That this film was intentionally made as a kid's film, as opposed to the usual teenage/young adult audience that previous Godzilla films targeted.

This is why most of the film utilizes a small boy as the main character, and has a side character consisting of a toy maker. While most of other Godzilla films consisted of warfare and darker villains, this movie's kid-centric approach changed such themes.

(As a little side note of trivia, it's interesting to note that the toy maker was played by Hideyo Amamoto, who had previously played vile gangsters, criminals, and other bad men in other films).

I believe that such a kiddie approach (despite the dark title "Godzilla's Revenge") is the main reason why this movie is considered so subpar. As anybody whose seen kids film knows, the writing, acting, directing is always dumbed down so that their main audience can enjoy the experience.

Whether this should be in a Godzilla movie is still up to debate, but one can only look at the results here to see otherwise.

Last we had checked the "Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters" comic book looked to be stabilizing in sales.

While there was a steep drop between the 1st and 2nd issues, the 3rd issue centered on a set number of sales, with the anticipation that this trend would continue throughout the rest of the issues.

Boy was I wrong.

Issues #4 tumbled to 228th place (out of 300) with total sales of 7,570.

That's about a 50% drop from the third issue, which had originally sold 14,588 issues!

It looks like the negative responses that this series has been obtaining form both critics and fans is finally catching up to it. Comic book retailers (who make up the numbers on these sales) must have seen how many copies issues were left unsold in their stores, and as such they ordered less this time around.

Is there anything that looks to make this series turn around in sales?

Only a set of solid storytelling and good reviews can do this, and thus far things don't seem to point that way.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Look at this horrible creation! It's like it stepped out of the bowels of hell or something.

How many of us grown men would seriously want to have something like this hanging on some shelf at night, as those demonic eyes look into your soul and that wicked smile widens even more.

Now think if any kid (ages 5 to 10) would want to this.

I wonder what the toymakers were thinking of when they made this. It's like they wanted to create the worst nightmare around and tied it in with Godzilla.

I tried to find a link for this on Amazon.com for any brave souls out there, but rightfully so there's nothing like it to be sold. So I've swapped if for something else, something far less frightful and far more cute and cuddly.

This is a preproduction artwork from the 1998 Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich "Godzilla" movie.

Most of the concept artwork was done by special effects and all around designer Patrick Tatopoulos, who was credited with creating this reimagining of the monster.

Discussions about how well/horrible this reimagining was put aside, what's interesting is that this piece truly showcases Godzilla firing his radioactive breath.

Of course we all know by now that in the movie the closest resemblance was the so-called "hurricane wind breath", but here it remains in all of its glory.

I wonder at what point the decision was made to remove this radioactive breath, and by whom? This was obviously one of the most noted criticisms of the design, because Godzilla's fire breath is his most recognizable feature. (It would be like having a new Superman movie and not utilizing the "S" symbol on the costume).

My guess is that Emmerich made this choice, because as director he ultimately has the option of deciding what goes and what stays. I would imagine he discarded this radioactive breath for the sake of realism, but then again what's realistic of a 300 foot tall mutated iguana?

I thought I would introduce another new segment for my website. This segment will deal with Godzilla related news over the past few years.

That's why it's called "Blast from the Past", because while the news is not recent it would still be interesting to highlight some items discussed within its release.

For this inaugural edition I'd like to discuss a "King Kong vs. Godzilla" remake that apparently made the rounds a few years back (2009 to be exact).

It all came from an anonymous graphic designer (pictured aside) who had stated that either Toho Studios or Universal had paid his company to come up with a 5 minute CGI sequence depicting the two monsters battling it out. It was to be done in a 3D format, and would not use any actors or man-in-suits or motion capture, just pure CGI.

He mentioned that his company was paid big bucks for this, and that all the studios asked for was this 5 minute scene.

In total it took his company around 1 month to complete everything, but that after the video was produced that was all he heard from either studio.

For reference the graphic designer had to maintain his anonymity because he had signed a confidentiality agreement. So he couldn't confirm who the order was truly from or reveal any of the video.

Interesting no?

Since this is dated 2009 I have to wonder several things:

It could be that Universal was truly trying to secure the Godzilla license from Toho Studios, and one way to showcase how their movie would work would be to have a sequence created (using their own King Kong license) as a reference point.

Or it could be that Toho and Universal studios were really trying to create a "King Kong vs. Godzilla" ride of sorts (ala King Kong 3D at Universal Studios), but that the team-up never occurred for undisclosed reasons.

Or it could be that this "graphics designer" is all made up by some hoaxer looking to run a false story.

In either case it makes for an interesting talking point, as we all know by now that eventually Legendary Pictures/WB won the Godzilla licensing rights.

From the makers of my previous article on the Godzilla Final Wars figure (Bandai), here is this amazing looking recreation of MechaGodzilla.

Just look at the intricate detail involved. Everything from the eyes to the arms to the legs look fantastic. There's even internal "wiring" throughout the body that mimics the internal components of MechaGodzilla.

What I love most about this figure is that it screams POWER. This truly looks like a hulking robot monster that can impose serious damage upon anybody.

I liken this to the fantastic "Iron Monger" toy model that was released at the time of the first "Iron Man" movie, as both just have that bulk that creates an imposing presence.

And standing at around 11 to 12 inches this is certainly not just a toy. Rather it's another great centerpiece from Bandai that one can place on any shelf, again as great-looking as any of the $100+ models found on Sideshow Collectibles.

Well it looks like things have evened out for the latest issue of this series.

As I had previously mentioned in part articles, Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters #1 came in at number 16, selling 58,879 issues.

Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters #2 had a STEEP drop coming in at number 120, with 14,492 issues sold.

Now issue #3 looks to have evened things out, coming in a little higher at number 114 with 14,588 issues sold.

Interesting. So there was actually a few percentage points of increase with this issue, which notes that the people looking to purchase this series are perhaps going to stay steady throughout the rest of the issues.

I still think much of the sales have to do with IDW shamefully imposing 2 to 3 variants per issue, as again this forces the comic book retailers to order more copies in order to appease collectors.

If we didn't have those variants then there's a chance sales would have been cut by a 1/3 at a minimum.

But in any case it's good to see that the King of Monsters is enjoying a healthy sales volume within this series.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Back in June there was news that "Godzilla vs. Megalon" was going to get a deluxe DVD/Blu-Ray release here in the US, from the same company making the new release for "Destroy All Monsters".

It turns out though that this news is either false, or at least still in a pending process.

This is because Scifijapan.com (who had previously made the DVD/Blu-Ray announcement) is now stating that both Toho Studios and Media Blasters have not secured any rights to the film, despite news otherwise.

While the article does not mention if they are obtaining such rights, we can at least assume that no such release will occur for the time being.

What's interesting about "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is that this film has already entered the "public domain" area. I.e. it has crossed the necessary time in years for the film to be sold by any publisher out there.

But because the movie still contains Godzilla, who is of course trademarked and copyrighted by Toho Studios, any such publications would have to go through them first.

(Licensing a film is a tricky thing, and in fact I'm working on a video about the trouble "Godzilla 1984/1985" has with any US DVD release because of this).

In any case the closest fans can get to "Godzilla vs. Megalon" is through any foreign region DVD, or through the abundant VHS copies still available.

Interesting article that I came across regarding Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters, and his involvement with the 1998 Godzilla film from Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich.

He was giving an interview to a reporter for Starpulse.com, talking about his involvement within the film.

Dave considers his band's song "A320" his favorite Foo Fighters song ever, and he was stating that when it was first written, he and his band thought it would never sell as it was written without any commercial appeal.

However Devlin/Emmerich liked it so much they purchased the rights in order to place it within their Godzilla film. Dave agreed because as he put it "they paid a fortune for it", but being that the movie was so top-secret he never had a chance to advance screen this movie utilizing his song.

Well upon the premiere he found the film to be "the worst movie he had ever seen", and then was doubly hurt to hear his "A320" song play throughout the credits!

Needless to say Dave hadn't forgotten the experience, and while he doesn't necessarily hate Godzilla himself, he definitely hated the whole movie experience thereafter. (I'm sure though he had no problem cashing that check from Sony though hehe).

This is actually the commercial tie-in that Dr. Pepper made when "Godzilla 1985" first came out onto US theaters. The commercial's fine if a little too kooky, but the unique thing about this was the blatant manner Dr. Pepper made their presence known throughout the film.

Anybody who watches movies knows that every now and then there's product placements done by companies within certain scenes.

It's something that's unavoidable, but at the same time it can be done in a tasteful manner.

While US audiences are generally okay with this (it's certainly much better than having 15 minutes of commercials before any movie starts), the unwritten rule is that such a product placement has to be discreet, i.e. there cannot be a blatant attempt at showcasing the product/service.

"Godzilla 1985" circumvented this rule by shamefully allowing Dr. Pepper to have their logo displayed in very obvious manners. It was to the point that everybody, both reviewers and audience, still remember and comment on it to this day. (This is actually great on Dr. Pepper's part because if they wanted their soft drink to be remembered, this is how a marketer does it)

But don't just take my word for it. I've included two pictures of the scenes most people talk about, and you can see for yourself.